France Highlights Nuclear Energy’s Role After Spain’s Major Blackout
A large-scale blackout that disrupted Spain earlier this week has prompted France to emphasize its contrasting energy strategy. French Industry and Energy Minister Marc Ferracci asserted on RTL radio that such an event is “much less likely” in France — primarily due to the country’s reliance on nuclear energy.
“In an electric system, you need flexibility and what we call controllable capacity — the ability to ramp up generation when demand surges. That’s why France has a balanced energy mix with both nuclear, a controllable source, and renewables,” Ferracci explained.
He added that nuclear energy — the same technology being phased out by the Pedro Sánchez government — actually helped Spain recover. “Cooperation and interconnections between France and Germany, especially via our grid operator RTE, enabled a faster recovery of electricity supply in Spain,” said the French minister.
More than 60% of France’s electricity comes from nuclear sources, in stark contrast to Spain, which plans to shut down all nuclear plants by 2035. Prime Minister Sánchez, however, defended the current strategy, claiming, “Nuclear power plants were part of the problem, not the solution, during this crisis.”
Spain currently operates five nuclear plants and seven reactors, which account for around 20% of the country’s electricity. Yet the recent blackout — and questions about the stability of a grid increasingly reliant on renewables — has intensified the national conversation.
The Popular Party (PP) has taken a firm stance in favor of prolonging nuclear operations. Its leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, announced a motion for a National Energy Security Plan to prevent further plant closures. “We must extend the life of nuclear plants. It’s part of our economic competitiveness plan,” he stated.
But PP is not alone. Vox and Junts, a Catalan pro-independence party, have also expressed support for nuclear power. Junts has formally registered requests in both the Congress and Senate calling for the Sánchez administration to reconsider its closure timeline.
As Spain debates its path forward, the blackout has turned what was once a technical discussion into a political, economic, and cultural battleground over the future of energy.